What Tiger Woods has told friends about his golf comeback on eve of return
Tiger Woods is set to return to the PGA Tour later this week at the Hero World Challenge, and the 15-time winner plans to play more in 2024.
Tiger Woods has told those close to him that the 15-time champion plans to play “five or six” tournaments in 2024 as he prepares for his return to the Hero World Challenge on Thursday.
This week’s return will be Woods’ first appearance since missing the third round of the Masters in April with an ankle injury. The American underwent surgery for the problem the next day and spent the next six months recovering.
Now Woods is ready to return and will add another visit to his schedule in 2024. Taylor Zarzur told SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio, “By all accounts, I’ve talked to a lot of people in South Florida that have been around Tiger recently.
“He doesn’t limp like he used to. It works much better. And talk to people. And he doesn’t talk much about predictions for the future. But he’s telling people he thinks he’ll be able to play in five or six tournaments in 2024 and that streak won’t work. It’s become a big problem in recent years.”
Woods’ work schedule has been limited in recent years after he suffered career-threatening injuries in a car accident in Los Angeles in February 2021. Since then, the American has played five times on the PGA Tour, including four major championships.
A comeback in 2022 saw him return to the Augusta National Masters where he crossed the finish line and then finished the week in 47th place. A few weeks later he competed in the PGA Championship, but the week was cut short when an injury forced him to retire late in the third round.
He then made a fairytale comeback at the Open 150 Championships at St Andrews last July but missed the cut as he tried to replicate the form that helped him win two clear pitchers on the Old Course. 2022 is that year for Woods, who had to withdraw from last year’s Hero World Challenge due to foot problems.
Two months later he competed in the Genesis Invitational and was tied for 45th by the end of the week. It looked like perfect preparation for the Masters two months later, but he had a tough week at Augusta and his exit came after battling the weather in Georgia at the end of the third round.
The 2019 Masters champion has since bounced back and is expected to do so this week. Earlier this month, Woods surprised fans with an update on his health, announcing that his ankle problem had been resolved but that he was still dealing with problems elsewhere.
“My ankle is fine,” Woods said. “There is absolutely no problem with the ankle binding part. This pain is completely gone. This is another area covered. But there were and still are all kinds of problems in the surrounding area.
